Mr. Condino...is my dad on Talkbass or do I need to report to the principle's office?????
The only time I have ever heard complaints about an access panel or trapdoor in a bass was from people who don't own one and who have never had any experience with one and are so grumpy and crusty that if one was sitting right in front of them, they would not be open to the idea. Having gigged with one for approx. 6 years now, I love mine and I don't think I'd ever not include that feature in a bass I built for myself, for 100 reasons. I think it is safe to say that anyone who works on basses over the last 300 years has had endless frustrations playing the ship in a bottle game trying to work on them through the tiny soundhole, or worse, the endpin hole. Access panels are a repair person's dream, opening up tremendous options and changing jobs like cracks and cleats from involved and expensive work to a 20 minute job with NO top removal and I will confidently say that I can set a soundpost 10 times better that I can through the F hole; with an unexpected bonus that almost every gig I make a few soundpost changes to tweek the bass to the room I'm playing in- I never expected it to be that handy.
Matthew's is probably one of the nicest designs I've seen and I am basically using that same setup in any that I do now; easy to say after having him work out the details; Thanks M. The first one I did, I was a little unsure of it, so I made up a backup matching uncut C bout so I could replace it if needed. I've never once thought it was a bad idea and almost every time I take that bass out on a gig I'm reminded of how useful a feature it is with no discernable downside. There was a bass on ebay a few months back that was attributed to me but the whole story never got told. The bass arrived with a very crude, almost jagged giant hole in the back. I had a same year and color bass back in the graveyard that I used to cutout a reasonable cover and built it up to make the bass functional; more damage control cleaning up someone else's mess than an intended design.
I'll also admit that I've used the access port on more than one occasion as a bit of gig humor and midway though an overly long not so great guitar solo I've put the bass down, opened the port, pulled out a rubber chicken and a few beers and passed them out to the rest of the band and audience.....
Whatever you do to your bass, think it out well, consider all of the outcomes and options, and then always do the best job you can. Good luck!
j.
www.condino.com
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